Tuesday

QUINCY — City councilors approved funding for a $6.3 million renovation project at Kincaid Park earlier this week after Ward 4 City Councilor Brian Palmucci invoked a seldom-used council rule to pull the matter to committee and demand a vote.

The move by Palmucci circumvented the council's usual rules for dealing with its legislative agenda. The request to fund the playground was referred to the city council's finance committee earlier this year. Last month, it earned a positive recommendation. Typically it would be sent back to the full committee by a vote at the request of the Finance Committee Chairman Ian Cain, but Cain said he wanted to hear more about outside funding sources from the Koch administration before bringing the matter before the city council for a full vote.

"We voted on the measure (in finance committee) with the contingency that the mayor's office was going to put pen to paper and provide more information on outside funding," Cain said. "That was not done."

Rather than wait for the report, Palmucci moved to pull the matter back onto the full council's agenda and demanded a vote, which was successful.

Cain accused Palmucci of strong-arming the process.

"This is a disgrace and the mere fact that you can invoke that rule is undermining to the purpose of committees," Cain said.

The council had already appropriated $1 million for the park as part of a $27 million parks bond approved in May 2017. That bond was funded with money from the city’s tax on hotel and motel room rentals.

The additional $5.3 million approved on Monday will be funded through a general obligation bond that would add to the tax burden.

The overhauled park design includes upgraded soccer fields, basketball courts, a track and new amenities like a splash pad, for an area of the city that proponents say has often been overlooked.

The park is situated between the Lincoln Hancock Elementary and Sterling Middle schools. Sterling will be replaced by the new South-West Middle School come next spring. The design includes athletic facilities that could be used by school and youth teams and a mix of other recreation facilities that will benefit residents of all ages, Palmucci said, including an extensive walking path system, an upgraded playground and improvements to landscaping and gardens that would beautify the park and improve storm water drainage.

"We had waited long enough," Palmucci said. He first introduced the park renovation last spring.

Still, the $6.3 million was a lot for some councilors to consider. Cain asked Mayor Thomas Koch's office how much money it could likely raise through grants and other outside sources to fund the project when it was voted out of finance committee last month, something Cain said Koch's office did not provide before Monday.

Christopher Walker, chief of staff for the mayor's office, told councilors Monday that the city has applied for $1.2 million in grants to help pay for the renovations and will seek additional grants. He said the mayor would "leave the door open" to use money from the hotel/motel tax if the city isn't successful in securing any grants.

"We think we'll be able to raise half this money," Walker said.

City councilors voted 6-3 to approve financing to pay for the park renovations.

Reach Erin Tiernan at etiernan@patriotledger.com or 617-786-7320. Follow her on Twitter @ErinTiernan.